Australia gears up for Software Freedom Day 2008

On September 20, teams from metropolitan and regional Australia will join more than 300 teams from around the world to celebrate the annual, grassroots event.

Although all teams share a common cause, each team is run independently and will be celebrating Software Freedom Day in their own way.

Melbourne event organiser Donna Benjamin, of the Linux Users of Victoria, described the day as a ‘Think Global, Act Local’ type of celebration.

“Each team plans and designs their own event, with little to no intervention or interaction with other teams,” she explained.

“So, it's hard to know what's happening in each city -- but at the same time, it means each event is relevant to the local community where it takes place.”

According to the Software Freedom Day Web page, events have been planned in Adelaide, Bathurst, Canberra, Tasmania, Melbourne and Newcastle.

Canberra Linux Users Group plans to distribute free software on 8,000 CDs that have been funded by Linux Australia.

Meanwhile, the Launceston team in Tasmania will be staging a day-long event at the Gateway Baptist Church Hall to showcase free and Open Source software use for the home and business.

Melbourne’s Software Freedom Day celebrations are supported by the Victorian Government, and will include a series of free talks, live software demonstrations, and free software giveaways.

As well as promoting Open Source software by groups such as Red Hat and Fedora, Melbourne event organisers are promoting the freedom to run, copy, distribute, change and improve software without needing to ask or pay for permission to do so.

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